Argentine Official to Be Questioned Over Link to Firm That Prints Money

BUENOS AIRES — Argentina’s vice president was ordered Friday to respond to accusations that he had abused his power to gain control of the company that prints the nation’s currency.

Judge Ariel Lijo ruled that there was enough evidence to merit formally questioning Vice President Amado Boudou about his role in the case, in which secret partners and shell companies have been accused of receiving tax exemptions and lucrative government contracts after buying the bankrupt Ciccone Calcográfica printing company at a cut-rate price. The printer, renamed the Compania de Valores Sudamericana, also produced campaign material during President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s re-election bid in 2011 with Mr. Boudou as her running mate.

Mr. Boudou is the first sitting vice president since Argentina emerged from military dictatorship in 1983 to be ordered to stand for questioning in criminal court, constitutional experts said.

Mr. Boudou dismissed calls for his resignation, saying he had done nothing improper. “I swear, I sustain and I will demonstrate that I did not commit acts of corruption,” he said.

“I’m very calm,” Mr. Boudou said in one of several interviews with local radio stations after the judge’s ruling was announced. “This is an important step because I’m going to prove my innocence.”

After Mr. Boudou is questioned next month, the judge could either dismiss the case or proceed with formal criminal charges that could carry a maximum of six years in prison and a lifetime ban from elective office.

A federal prosecutor told the judge that evidence supported allegations of influence trafficking by Mr. Boudou, who has been accused of using his power as economy minister and then vice president to smooth the printing company’s exit from bankruptcy.

Members of the Ciccone family said Mr. Boudou had been personally involved in negotiations that persuaded them to sell the printing company. He has denied participating in the meetings or knowing other key participants, but testimony by witnesses and documents presented to the judge suggested Mr. Boudou was involved.

Jorge Capitanich, the cabinet chief, dismissed the investigation as politically motivated, noting that the judge scheduled the hearing for July 15. The date coincides with a possible trip by Mrs. Kirchner to an economic conference in Brazil; Mr. Boudou would be named acting president in her absence. Mr. Capitanich, however, said the government respected the authority of the court and praised the vice president’s willingness to cooperate.

The judge also ordered testimony from Mr. Boudou’s longtime friend and business partner, José María Núñez Carmona; Alejandro Vandenbroele, a businessman who allegedly acted as Mr. Boudou’s secret proxy; a top tax agency official, Rafael Resnick Brenner; and two of the printing company’s executives, the co-founder Nicolás Ciccone and his son-in-law, Guillermo Reinwick.

The judge wrote that evidence suggests that Mr. Boudou and Mr. Núñez Carmona acquired the bankrupt company, which operates Argentina’s only currency printing factory. The judge also said Mr. Boudou’s intervention appeared to influence the tax agency’s decision to grant the company an illegal exemption, effectively erasing its debts by enabling it to pay back taxes at below-market interest rates.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Argentine Official to Be Questioned Over Link to Firm That Prints Money. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe